Selby Garden Railway

[mick]

With a continuing thaw this morning, the ice which had been encasing the track for the past couple of days had melted away giving me the opportunity to uncover the viaduct, clean the tracks, and have a running session. In fact I took the opportunity to get 'Herring Gull' on track because I'm determined to get a decent sounding, capable LNER A4 that will haul my rake of Gresley teak coaches. With a gross loco weight of just 306 grams, I wasn't surprised to discover that 6 coaches was her maximum although to be fair the track was somewhat against her being damp and slippery even after a good wash and wipe, but what did surprise me was how much better she sounds when she is actually running. Some additional weight will certainly help with traction.

Indoors 'Herring Gull' was a big disappointment to me but I had a feeling that once she was allowed to run outdoors things may have been different. I didn't expect that I would be almost enjoying the session listening to her circling the route. At top speed, indoors she sounded like a bag of spanners but outdoors she sounds almost like a steam engine. After messing about indoors with an additional speaker I know that I can get deeper exhaust chuffs from her so now I can't wait to swap speakers and test her outdoors again to see just how much difference that makes.

The video below shows Herring Gull in action today although the first 2 minutes show her in non-sound action so that you can compare. I think it's worth watching the whole video.

oSpbLCAWmrI

[mick]

Today, despite the spring-like weather around mid day, I resisted the urge to play trains and instead I made a start on removing one of the annoying little humps which has led to problems with haulage capabilities when operating certain locomotives, steam loco's in particular. The photograph below shows the section of track where the problem is located but a glance at any of my recent videos will highlight this even more.

I began by lifting three complete sections of rail from both circuits and then removed the roofing felt covering the decking board base. For the main part the roofing felt was stuck fast and had to be laboriously scraped away but in certain areas it had not stuck so firmly and had risen slightly to leave some small humps and bumps. Thankfully, no water had penetrated any part of the track base so the roofing felt and black bitumen adhesive has certainly done its job.

Looking at the photograph below you can just make out how a small part of roofing felt in the centre of the picture has not adhered to the decking board and has risen in a small bump between the rails and also beneath the far running line.

I wasn't sure about the best way to level the track base but in the end I decided to simply plane it as level as possible. If I had removed the decking board itself I would have had a much more difficult task of cutting away at the top of a breeze block! With the aid of a 2 metre length of timber to keep a check on the gradients I took away as much timber as I needed with an electric plane until it seemed right. To the naked eye it is really difficult to tell there is a hump in that location at all and it's only the compression in telephoto images and videos which reveal the problem. Once I was satisfied, I replaced the track on one side of the running line and ran a light engine round to see if it looked any better. I'm now going to leave it until tomorrow and then I'll take another look at it before fastening anything down permanently.

[mick]

The weather's been on my side today but alas, I've managed to do nothing at all about completing the work of removing that small hump I started 2 days ago. At the moment that section of track is out of commission and covered from the elements until I can get out to purchase some more bitumen adhesive. It's not really the best kind of weather for using the bitumen but when I went to the garage and took out the tin I had previously been using I discovered that it had hardened into something resembling a rather large Pontefract Cake. Totally unusable!

On a lighter note I've just received another two 100t oil tankers. I've been getting the odd ones now and then as I try to make a complete set which will eventually be hauled by a class 37 and I've now got 12 of them which is starting to look okay. I've also received some enamel paints so that i can have a practice with my new air brush Good on you Santa! I've been watching the Right Tracks video of Weathering Techniques over and over again in order to familiarise myself with some of the techniques that Tim Shackleton uses and I must admit that I've started taking a more critical look at some of the weathering attempts on the web. I'll be starting a workbench thread soon so that I can record how I get on.

One other project that I will be tackling in the next week or so will be the addition of a new speaker(s) to my A4 'Herring Gull'. It was my intention initially to add a second speaker but this time in the loco rather than the tender in order to try disguise the fact that the sound comes from the tender itself but after seeing Herring Gull in action round the garden and in action in the video I recorded I have to say that from a normal viewing distance it's very difficult to tell that the sound is coming from the tender and not from the loco. Perhaps just a better speaker in the tender would suffice? Regarding that video, I have to say that the blue A4 and teak coaches look absolutely superb together - the colours are so complimentary - and with a bit of additional weight to the loco and some weight reduction methods on the coaches I think I'll be able to get it up to at least 8 coaches.

[IanR]

Happy New Year! So Santa brought you an airbrush, have you tried it out yet? You can't do what Tim Shackleton does i.e. use it outside at this time of year! If you use it indoors you'll need plenty of ventilation and I would recommend a respirator mask, I got a small spray booth too. Good luck!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPRAY-BOOTH-EXTRACTOR-FAN-FOR-AIRBRUSHING_W0QQitemZ300380533069QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH?hash=item45f013314d

[mick]

Happy New Year to you too Ian.

I've had a bit of a blast with some watercolour paints just to get the feel for using the brush itself. Seemed a bit awkward at first trying to find the best way to hold it but it's fine now and I'm looking forward to tackling my first project. I've obtained some Railmatch enamel paints for the roofs as you suggested and I'm waiting for the Humbrol to come so I have everything else to hand. I will have to take a look through my stock and find a suitable item to practise on. Thanks for the links to the spray booth - looks ideal.

The garden would not be a good idea for a spraying location, especially today after even more snow overnight. Just as the garden had cleared after the last fall it's now completely white over again. I like to see the snow, but it's getting to be something of a pain right now.....

[mick]

It's now almost 2 weeks since I began to level out the small hump along one side of the garden railway but any chance of completing the work has been out of the question since then. The garden is still covered in a layer of snow although it has melted away considerably over the past two days. It's going to be one wet and soggy mess for some time to come I would think.

Even though I'm unable to do any work on the railway I have finally managed to order a garden shed. Not the ideal weather for erecting a shed I know but then they are on sale at the moment and I was tempted by the 'pre VAT price increase' which has saved me about £8! Originally I was looking at the 8ft x 6ft budget range without windows for cheapness sake but in the end I went for one at 10ft x 6ft with windows so that I can have a view of the railway from the shed (could be useful) and one that is a bit more substantial and costly! I think I should be able to manage with a 10 x 6 though I would have preferred one at 8ft wide for an additional £200 but solely for a model railway sidings that's pushing it a bit too far. Now, if the weather keeps fine and dry I have a shed base to lay before the shed is delivered in about 10 days time.

There's not been any new videos because of the weather but I have obtained a couple more loco's and there's been some more rolling stock added as I try to build up some complete rakes. I'll bring news of all that later.

[mick]

What was I saying about the garden shed being delivered in about 10 days time? I've not even set foot outside in the garden yet and I've been informed that it will be delivered tomorrow! No base, no nothing - and now I have a sectional shed to erect. I haven't even made a firm decision about exactly where it's going to go so I'm going to have to get out with the tape measure and my best thinking cap in the morning and then make space to store the sections until I can get it all erected.

However, I'm looking forward to being able to lay some indoor sidings and having several trains on track at the same time. I think I'm also going to erect the baseboards which I constructed for my planned indoor layout in the shed too so that everything is in one place. The indoor layout will go above the outdoor sidings around the sheds perimeter. That's the plan for now anyway.

[mick]

Still no progress with erecting the shed although I have now got all the materials required to construct the base and if the weather stays anything like I should be able to get this completed within the next day or two. I'm hoping to have the shed erected by this coming weekend and really, as it's only been pre-treated, the quicker I can get it done and given some additional preservative the better.

The plan to have a small indoor layout sited above the outdoor sidings means I'm now looking for stock suitable for a small branch line. I might even go for a freelance preserved railway which is an idea that I quite like and which would satisfy my desire to obtain items that simply take my fancy. I'm not sure I could restrict myself to a set period or region even though most of the very best layouts I have seen are based on a certain time frame or located in a specific area but I'm sure that any such restrictions would work out cheaper than my present fancy!

[diggermart]

hi good luck with the shed, lets hope the snow keeps away.im waiting till march before i start on my round the pond track.the guy at monkbar model shop said wait till it gets a bit warmer{ha.ha.] HE ALSO ADVISES to use peco track, evidently its more suited to outside conditions anyway all the best regards martin

[mick]

hi good luck with the shed, lets hope the snow keeps away.im waiting till march before i start on my round the pond track.the guy at monkbar model shop said wait till it gets a bit warmer{ha.ha.] HE ALSO ADVISES to use peco track, evidently its more suited to outside conditions anyway all the best regards martin

Cheers Martin. At the moment the ground outside is like a quagmire and although I've made a start, more overnight rain looks like it's going to delay me further. The cold I can put up with as I can always put another layer on if needed but these underfoot conditions are depressing.

Outside trackwork has to be Peco nickel silver and even though there may be cheaper alternatives available I wouldn't suggest using anything other than the Peco Streamline code 100. It won't rust like ordinary steel track but will however become tarnished after a time and it's suitable for use with all your rolling stock. I believe that tarnish, a discolouration of the metal surface caused by oxidation, is itself a form of rust but it's much kinder for our purposes and is easily cleaned away before a running session.

Finally, no matter what track you obtain - you're gonna want a lot of it!

[mick]

As you can see above I have finally managed to begin erecting the train [garden] shed. Due to the unfavourable weather of late the shed sections have been stored alongside the house while I first constructed the concrete base and then managed to find suitable weather on a day when I had some assistance available to help get the sections put together. Thankfully, a task that seemed like it might be tricky for the 2 of us to handle was somewhat easier than first envisaged once I had fastened a batten to the side of one end section and used that to temporarily secure that section to the base. From then onwards it was plain sailing until darkness finally brought my work to a premature end for the day. I have covered the roof with felt and tomorrow I will be able to fix the windows in place and add all those finishing touches.

What will it be like once everything's up and running........

....well I've got a nice view of just about the whole layout from within the shed (might have to move that clothes drier thing though!).

It's envisaged that in the photo viewed from inside the shed, the line coming from the left across the covered viaduct section will enter the front of the shed to the right of the photo (to the left as you look at the first exterior view photo) whilst the line heading down toward the garden burner will enter the front of the shed at the left side (or right side as you look at the first photograph). At the moment it is intended that they will form a simple loop within the shed - the loop being comprised of a series of storage sidings, however, now that the shed is in place it is possible that plans may change as it's now easier to see what the best configuration might be. I had thought about removing the gradients altogether and not having the circuit run back beneath itself just behind where the garden burner is standing but I quite like the idea of seeing the trains running on two levels that way.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the Selby Garden Railway is back in operation.

[mick]

The exterior of the shed has now been painted with a shade of 'Woodland Green' preservative and some 36 hours later it's still not dry. I was going to give it a second coat but until I get the walkways sorted out it's fast becoming impossible to walk around the perimeter as the underfoot conditions are horrendous. The photographs of the shed area above bear no resemblance whatsoever to the actual state of the ground - especially to the rear and sides of the shed. I certainly need to sort out some suitable walkways but until it dries out a bit I can't see me getting anywhere fast.

[mick]

I don't feel as if I've done anything for weeks and perhaps in reality I haven't. Every time I decide to do something outdoors it seems the weather changes for the worst. I removed the temporary curve the other day in readiness for extending the tracks towards the newly erected shed and then woke the following morning to discover a 5 inch covering of snow had fallen!

The shed has still had just one single coat of preservative and looks decidedly rough and untidy at the moment. I could have taken a bit more care to get the felt roof covering fitted a bit better but it was my intention to stick it down rather than just use felt tacks, however, it was so cold on the day I was able to do it that the bitumen was almost solid in the tin and completely unworkable. In the end I had to rely just on the tacks so I'll try to sort it out later. At least it's keeping the wet out at the moment.

As for the tracks, as already mentioned I have now removed the temporary curve structure (see above) in readiness for extending the circuits towards and eventually into the shed. Within the shed I'm hoping to be able to have in the region of 8-10 storage sidings (4-5 for each direction) so that I can ring the changes during a running session. These storage sidings will of course be at a low level and will enter the shed somewhere around the third panel from the ground. As they're intended as sidings only that won't be a problem, in fact it opens up the opportunity of creating a separate indoor only layout above, which is something I'm looking forward to.

While I may not have made much progress with the layout I have acquired a number of new locomotives, all of which will be making an appearance over the coming months. In particular I have acquired several new class 37 and 47 diesel locomotives and I'm slowly building up a rake of the excellent Dapol FEA spine wagons which are incredibly detailed.

If the weather would just remain fine for a few successive days then perhaps I could get something cracking. I need to get the complete circuit back in operation as quickly as possible.

[mick]

Managed to spend a few hours in the garden yesterday (Sunday) and I've now finally got the track relaid where I had been removing the 'hump'. Having obtained some proper model railway layout wire I have also been re-bonding the track joins and adding them in places where there were previously none. In addition I've been fixing the track down at 4-5 inch intervals so that my little dog doesn't disturb it as he hops across! (It's either that or get rid of the dog!) I intend finishing all the existing track before I make a start on extending into the shed. The winter has taken it's toll on the surface of the running rails which are now very dull and a deep shade of brown but they clean up with no trouble whatsoever.

Reading about the Bachmann 'new products' announcement earlier on Sunday morning I was more than a little relieved to discover that there wasn't a great deal that took my fancy. I will certainly be in for the 'Evening Star' having missed out on the previous NRM version, but without going back for another look at the list there isn't much more that excites me. I guess that should be seen as a bad thing but with so much still to be released from last years announcement it makes for a welcomed bit of breathing space. We're still waiting for the Peppercorn A2's, the Robinson 04's, the Craven's 105's and a whole host of rolling stock so I have more than enough to be going on with for this year.

[mick]

Same old story, the moment I get something running the heavens open.

I'm not usually one for going to bed early but in an effort to have a good start today I kept away from the computer last night and went to bed instead. I was up nice and early this morning and raring to go. I got all the required tools out, armed myself with a quantity of cut lengths of wire and using a couple of breeze blocks as a seat I settled down to solder some more bonding wires across the track joins. I have now completed about as much as I can leaving just the long back straight where I am hoping to be able to lift the track slightly to lessen the gradient. I'll do that when I have the track at the right height to pass beneath the viaduct section as it makes it's way towards the shed. I have also relaid some lengths of track atop the viaduct and secured everything down nice and solid.

To reward myself, at around 1pm I decided to test my handiwork and so coupled up my controller to the track and got out the Hornby sound-fitted Black 5. It's surprising just what a difference it makes having a bit of sound coming from the loco (or in this case the tender) as opposed to not having sound at all. Even if it's not of great quality it's still much better with some sound than without.

I gave the rails a quick wipe over with the track rubber which removed the past 3 months of accumulated grime easily and sent the Black 5 on its way with a nice whistle! Before the loco buffers had reached the top curve it began drizzling and I hurried to protect the top vented Gaugemaster transformer before the rain got inside and caused any damage. I gave it a minute or two in the hope that the rain would ease but it only got worse and so I packed everything away and came indoors. It's now brightened up again......

[mick]

I thought I would nip outside during a break in the drizzle to photograph one of the track joins I have been bonding over the past couple of days.

I'm no expert when it comes to using a soldering iron but I've managed to get a nice firm joint. Just a short length of 16/0.2mm 3.0 amp layout wire soldered across the rail join to maintain electrical continuity should (or more probably when) the rail joiners fail. Surprisingly I have not yet burned my fingers!

The photograph below shows the same joint but with the missing sleepers now replaced. Of note is the fact that the rails you see in these photographs have been exposed to the elements outdoors without being cleaned since late last year. They've stood up pretty well and putting a shine back on the rail tops is no problem for the trusty track rubber. I've read somewhere that using a metal polish helps to reduce tarnishing of the rail top so I'm going to test that theory on a short length.

An finally, although no work has been done either inside or outside to connect this in with the rest of the layout, here's the garden shed now having had 2 coats of green preservative. Perhaps I need to look at giving the fence a coat too and then making a pathway up to the shed door and getting rid of some of the rubbish that has accumulated behind the shed.

[mick]

Made good progress today and I've now relaid most of the track on top of the viaduct to remove some rather annoyingly large expansion gaps and bonded all the rail joints. I've also realigned a couple of sections of track along the far side of the garden which I hadn't initially laid as straight as what I could and should have done. Slowly but surely I feel I'm getting on top of it all and will soon be able to commence extending the track into the shed.

My treat for getting something done today was to run one of my sound-fitted 47's. In the end I decided it would be a good idea to get all my recent class 47 purchases out and take a group photo. Only 2 of them have DCC chips so they were on static view but I did take a short video of the sound-fitted one in action which if it turns out okay will be uploaded later. Not having a complete circuit at the moment, it's far from easy trying to operate a controller and a video camera so no doubt it'll be somewhat shaky at best.

As for the group photographs well here we go.

In no particular order they are:

47406 Rail Riders

47461 Charles Rennie Mackintosh

47541 The Queen Mother

47474 Sir Rowland Hill

47535 University of Leicester

47975 The Institution of Civil Engineers

First impressions of the new Bachmann 47 are very favourable. The two I have tried run extremely well and they certainly look the part. I especially like the look of the large logo BR Blue 'University of Leicester'.

The only trouble with getting them all to take photographs is that they all have to be packed away again. Better do that now - you should see the state of my living room!

[trebor1845]

What a great job and really inspirational, have enjoyed video clips, keep up the excellent work and reporting same. Might even get me started.

Rob

[mick]

What a great job and really inspirational, have enjoyed video clips, keep up the excellent work and reporting same. Might even get me started.

Rob

The forum's big enough for all of us Rob so make that start and grab yourself a thread - you know you want to!

Thanks for the post - much appreciated.

Mick

[mick]

Right, it may not look much but this represents a lot of progress for me. I've been toying with the idea of making a start on extending the track base for a while and I've finally got that all important first sod dug as they say. Having also obtained sufficient materials with which to actually construct the base we're now on our way.

The photo above represents the area involved with the extension into the shed. It's not that extensive so it shouldn't take even me too long to complete. Working out the gradients and the correct levels for the footings is the time consuming part. The radius of the curve in the photograph is seven feet which still looks rather tight outdoors doesn't it?

The photo above is a reverse view of the same area as before looking back towards the garden area from the shed. Practically the whole of the layout is in this shot.

The view looking towards the shed from the long back straight section is seen in the picture below. The track falls away to pass beneath the viaduct section before rising very slightly to enter the shed at the second panel from the base. The ground itself actually falls away towards the shed making the blocks appear lower than they will actually be. The line coming from the viaduct section to the right will fall gradually and enter the shed also at the second panel from the base.

Finally one of the advantages of an outdoor layout is the length of straight you can accommodate even in a relatively small area. The angle of the shot might make it look longer than it actually is but there's going to be plenty of room down this straight for scale length running - if the loco's are powerful enough to make it up the gradient that is! Modern diesels are fine even hauling heavy loads but steamers really do struggle with large loads so there's going to be some work needed on those that will be working out of the shed.